eastendersfandomcom-20200215-history
Episode 1583 (5 March 1998)
Synopsis Ian's election campaign is quickly becoming as boring as every real one. He goes on a bus trip to protest about the closure of a bus route. Dot and Nellie are happy to provide noisy support for his plan and Polly is patiently taking their comments down for the paper. Then an apparently blind man appears and goes up to Polly to ask to talk to Ian and give an incredibly unbelievable story about how wonderful it is that he is supporting the disabled and disadvantaged people. Later he goes to see Annie and takes off the dark glasses and drops the act to accept his payment. Conor is hassling Phil, saying that they will be in trouble if George finds out they used his name. Phil says forget it, but Conor is very nervous. Then, George arrives at the Arches and asks Conor where Phil is and tells him in an annoyed fashion that he wants to see Phil as soon as he gets back. Conor is convinced his predictions have come true, and panics. He goes to the Vic asking Grant if he's seen Phil. Grant says no, and Conor asks if he is sure! Grant says sarcastically "I think I'd have remembered." It transpires that all George wants to do is give Phil a stern telling-off about Lorna embarrassing him and hence Peggy in the Vic. George threatens Phil that if he ever does something like this to hurt Peggy again he will regret it. Justine turns up again asking for Gianni, and she meets Teresa who goes to tell Gianni he is in big trouble, and either she's found out about his other women or she's pregnant. Mary asks Mark to help her find another job and wants to be a barmaid in the Vic because she's 18 next week. Mark asks Peggy, who says she'll think about it. Nigel also asks Peggy if they can hold the rehearsal tonight in the Vic, because their usual place is booked. She agrees to both and informs Grant, who is most annoyed he wasn't consulted on either of these decisions. The play is also in jeopardy because their venue is booked for the night, and Ian offers to help. After initially saying Lucy was too ill to rehearse, he changes his mind when he discovers that Tony has decided this rehearsal is one to cover for the Gazette. Matthew is sulking with Mary after she let Pauline humiliate him, but he agrees to meet her in the café at 6pm after she begs a lot. He turns up, but she doesn't. Kathy says sympathetically "It happens to all of us" and Matthew walks out in a huff. Peggy tells Mary that she can have the job, and Mary celebrates in the Vic. Michael jokes that he hopes she won't be leading his son astray by serving him drinks under age. Mary realises that it's way past 6pm and Matthew is waiting in the café! She eventually tracks him down and he comes up with ever more bizarre stories about Sandra, now saying that he is engaged to her. Mary can't take the ridiculous pretence any more and walks out. The rehearsal goes ahead and Ian makes the announcement that he has managed to persuade the manager of the Walford Empire to let them perform the play there. Julie is thrilled, as this will allow a much bigger audience. Ian obviously uses the opportunity of the Gazette being there to make the most news out of this charitable effort on his part. Nick and Cindy turn up to collect the children after the rehearsal, and Cindy is still hassling Nick about the sewage trick. She says Ian would go absolutely ballistic if he found out Nick was behind the problem and had deliberately sabotaged his chip shop. Nick decides this could be useful, and he goes up to Ian to needle him, saying he hasn't had much luck with his chip shop, has he, and those manhole covers are a real bugger. Ian realises Nick is implying that he was responsible for the sewage leak in his shop, and he is furious, saying it has cost him thousands of pounds, and he grabs Nick, who offers absolutely no resistance at all, but loudly tells Ian to get off him, so setting the stage for everyone to watch as Ian then throws a punch and floors Nick, then sits on top of him, about to punch him again as he lies totally unresisting on the floor. Ian stops just before the punch, as the combined flashes of the photographers' cameras blind everyone! Credits Main cast *Ian Beale - Adam Woodyatt *Dot Cotton - June Brown *Nellie Ellis - Elizabeth Kelly *Polly Becker - Victoria Gould *Annie Palmer - Nadia Sawalha *Phil Mitchell - Steve McFadden *Conor Flaherty - Seán Gleeson *George Palmer - Paul Moriarty *Grant Mitchell - Ross Kemp *Teresa di Marco - Leila Birch *Mary Flaherty - Melanie Clark Pullen *Mark Fowler - Todd Carty *Peggy Mitchell - Barbara Windsor *Nigel Bates - Paul Bradley *Matthew Rose - Joe Absolom *Kathy Mitchell - Gillian Taylforth *Cindy Beale - Michelle Collins *Michael Rose - Russell Floyd Guest cast * Nick Holland - Dominic Taylor * Justine - * Julie Haye - Karen Henthorn Category:Episode Category:1998 Episodes